So, by now we've all heard about how Alec Baldwin is quitting public life. Or something like that. I didn't read the article in the New York where he ranted about how people won't let him rant....or something. But I read an article about that article, and apparently he said some not so great things about Rachel Maddow. Both Alec and Rachel host seperate shows on MSNBC, Alec's got cancelled, Rachel's did not. He blamed her.

Below is a quote, I bolded her response to his accusations. I gotta say, as soon as I saw her response I thought it was very classy. No shouting, no blaming, just a simple statement of "we've never met" and then very nicely wishing him the best. Seemed etiquette appropriate to me.

Quote

In his essay, Baldwin accused fellow MSNBC host Rachel Maddow of spearheading his firing and called her "a phony who doesn't have the same passion for the truth off-camera that she seems to have on the air." The 40-year-old political commentator issued a response via BuzzFeed's Kate Aurhtur Sunday, tweeting, "I have never met Mr. Baldwin, either on camera or off-camera. I wish him all the best."

I agree that it was a very polite way to respond to what could be seen as a bit of a professional and personal slur, but that's her MO in general. Which, honestly, is probably part of the reason why her show is one of MSNBC's most popular (if not its most popular outright).

I also deeply appreciate that Alec Baldwin decided to publish an essay containing over 5,000 words to explain why everyone else in the whole world stinks and he's taking his toys and going home. Very mature.

Alec's whole....thing just reminds me of when people on the internet get mad and post a "No one is nice here so I'm never coming back! Does anyone know how to disable an account? Mods please disable my account!" flounce off. But then they come back. Because no one really cares they're leaving and they didn't get the appropriate "No! You mustn't leave! Please stay this place will be nothing without you!" attention they crave and they post up "Well since so many people wanted me to stay (no one, no one asked you to stay) I'll try it again" response to the non-response of their original I'm taking my toys and going home post.

I feel like if everyone just looks at Alec and says "Ok, good luck" and then moves a long with their lives....he'll come back with some "Since so many people contact me to ask me to stay" story or something. Of course if you feed the beast and say "Oh no please stay!" he'll also stay. So, either way, I have a hard time believing he'll actually be gone from the spotlight for very long.

There people who leave the spotlight behind. But they don't write 5,000 word essays about how no one is nice enough to them and they're leaving to do it. They just....do it. And at some point people go "Have we heard from that dude recently?" and then we find out what happened. Because they don't flounce.

"There people who leave the spotlight behind. But they don't write 5,000 word essays about how no one is nice enough to them and they're leaving to do it. They just....do it. And at some point people go "Have we heard from that dude recently?" and then we find out what happened. Because they don't flounce."

There's a story on Yahoo right now about "What ever happened to Gene Hackman?" that proves this point. I tend to agree that Mr. Baldwin seems to crave the spotlight far too much to be gone for very long.

Makes me think of the girl who was in quite a few movies in the 90's, Mara Wilson. She had so many of those "cute little girl" roles like in Mrs. Doubtfire and she played Matilda. Then she just stopped doing roles and it was her own choice, from what I understand. I think she even wrote an online essay about why some children in showbiz end up like Macauley Culkin or Justin Bieber.

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

Makes me think of the girl who was in quite a few movies in the 90's, Mara Wilson. She had so many of those "cute little girl" roles like in Mrs. Doubtfire and she played Matilda. Then she just stopped doing roles and it was her own choice, from what I understand. I think she even wrote an online essay about why some children in showbiz end up like Macauley Culkin or Justin Bieber.

Yeah, I remember that article. It was on cracked.com, I think.

She sounded like a really intelligent, thoughtful person. Her rationale for dropping out of the spotlight was much less "everyone here is mean!" and much more, "Ok, I think I need to take a break." And I can totally respect that, even though it does make me a little sad that I won't see her in movies anymore.

Makes me think of the girl who was in quite a few movies in the 90's, Mara Wilson. She had so many of those "cute little girl" roles like in Mrs. Doubtfire and she played Matilda. Then she just stopped doing roles and it was her own choice, from what I understand. I think she even wrote an online essay about why some children in showbiz end up like Macauley Culkin or Justin Bieber.

Yeah, I remember that article. It was on cracked.com, I think.

She sounded like a really intelligent, thoughtful person. Her rationale for dropping out of the spotlight was much less "everyone here is mean!" and much more, "Ok, I think I need to take a break." And I can totally respect that, even though it does make me a little sad that I won't see her in movies anymore.

She still does theater acting, and she has a blog. So she's definitely put herself back into the public spotlight, just not in the same way as when she was a child. But yes, she did pretty much drop out of acting without any fanfare because it stopped being what she wanted to do.

This is basically 'goodbye cruel forum' for a famous person (where someone flounces out of a forum and you just know they are waiting to be begged to stay). It doesn't seem to happen on ehell but I've definitely seen it elsewhere.

This is basically 'goodbye cruel forum' for a famous person (where someone flounces out of a forum and you just know they are waiting to be begged to stay). It doesn't seem to happen on ehell but I've definitely seen it elsewhere.

The GCF post is one of my pet peeves as an online moderator. The last 2 people I booted from a group I moderate were on thin ice anyway, and their GCF posts were my breaking point. They were both booted before they even got a chance to revel in all the "please dont leave we love you" replies (of which there weren't any haha). So, the fact that people do this in real life? Ugh, I can't even.